Timeline
This the timeline mentioned through given dates throughout Thief. Some of it seems to be a mix of new material and references to the old series in some fashion. Background BR appears to be a reference to Baron Bresling's Rule/Reign, and NR is a reference to the start of the Northcrest's Rule/Reign. 'y' seems to simply designate 'year'. Another way of saying this is in the year of Northcrest "#"Lady Christina's Will. The listing of the Baron's initial appears to be optional, but in most cases is given. It is unclear how these dating systems are connected. The most likely appears that it represents a single timeline going from 'y' (year) 1 to 'y' 842 with designation of the rulers at the time (in which case its not clear when the Northcrests first began to rule). In which case year one might be the founding of The Eternal City. This would make it a total of 842 years of history. This option is at least supported by several examples.Lady Christina's Will, Castinets, and the Custom House Bridge. Listing the Baron's initial may be optional, as there are several instances where a date is given, but no initial is listed. There may be other options, but for sake of simplifying things the first option is in use in this wiki (for alternative views see notes). Timeline ;Unknown Dates :The Founders cross the South Seas and found the First Landing Marker is established at the City's docks, and began colonization of the island and mainland as a small colony as a trading outpost, and the outpost quickly grew into a large trading city. :St. Edgar and the Hammerites rise to power from the Stonemasons of the city. ;y1 :The first Baron, Lord Laurence of House Black second of his generation takes the Baron's Chair ushering in the age of Barons, and the calendar is reset.Companion App "A Brief History ;Unknown Date :Bresling dynasty begins rule of the city (could occur as early as 1 or after the plagues). ;c. y384http://thief.wikia.com/wiki/TG_B07 :The plagues hit the the city (The Catastrophe, undead plague and fires lead to sealing of the Old Quarter?). ;BRy412 :The Crippled Burrick Tavern is established in Wayside.City Heritage Plaques: The Crippled Burrick Tavern ;Unknown Dates :Carlysle's Mill is built. ;BRy434http://thief.wikia.com/wiki/Lord_Bafford%27s_Manor:_In-game_text#M2LEDGE :The fall of the Trickster, at the hands of the Sneak Thief (old Garrett) ;BRy435http://thief.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline :Karras rises to power during The Metal Age. :Blackbrook goes to war with The City and Baron Bresling. :The legendary Sneak Thief defeats increasingly insane Karras. ;BRy436 :The destruction of Karras. ;Unknown Dates :Stonemarket Clock Tower is destroyed or damaged (by the Sneak Thief). :The ancient and secretive Keeper faction ceases to be relevant and begins to die out (the Dark Age begins around this time). Sneak Thief becomes the last known Keeper and is considered to blame for the trying times ahead. :The clock tower goes under construction, restoration and repairs for the first time. :Family Carlysle loses most of its land holdings, except for Carlysle's Mill. ;BRy459 :Widow Edwina Moira's Dream is brought to life by Baron Bresling, and the Moira Asylum is constructed. ;Unknown Date :Ulysses Northcrest becomes the first Northcrest Baron. He outlaws worship of the old gods. :The Hammerite, and Pagan religions are effectively banned, and begin to weaken and disappear. :Baron Ulysses turns the Moira Asylum into a prison to house The City's degenerates. ;Unknown Date :The legendary master Sneak Thief (old Garrett) is captured and imprisoned in the Old Prison underneath the Moira Asylum. He managed to hide a hidden treasure cache including coins as old as The City, and a strange painting. He lost his mechanical eye in the prison (although its not known if he escaped or died there). ;y521 :The Great City Riots occur. The Castinet family mysterious vanishes and the butterfly brooches are lost. ;NRy598 :The Siren's Rest is established in Riverside as a Safe Berth from the South Seas.City Heritage Plaques: The Siren's Rest ;y624 :The Great tempest hits the city. Only a portion of the Customs House Bridge's Original Structure survived.City Heritage Plaques: Custom House Bridge ;NRy662 :The great fires burn and rage through the city. The original Crippled Burrick Pub was moved from its Original Location (Wayside) to its new location in Stonemarket between Clock Tower Plaza and the Mourningside.City Heritage Plaques: The Crippled Burrick Tavern ;NRy689 :Barnabus Northcrest the Boy Baron wishes that the Moira Asylum become a source of great Creativity and Income for the people he serves. :History of Moira Asylum is written. ;NRy710 :The Dayport Wall is raised by Order of Baron Oliver Northcrest. ;NRy772 :Samias Northcrest begins the Northcrest's persuit of the Primal. :Baron Samias Northcrest dies in battle at Morendrum.Morendrum Medal :Harland Northcrest becomes the ninth baron. ;c. NRy782 :Elias Northcrest is born.Bio in Thief App ;c. NRy797 :Aldous Northcrest-Hucks is born. ;NRY789 :The long neck silver label is bottled. ;c. NRy802 :The baby who would later be known as the Thief-Taker General is born.Bio in Smartphone App ;NRy806 :Elias begins researching into the Primal, as his father isn't doing much with it. ;NRy808 :Harland Northcrest cedes his power over to Elias Northcrest. Elias is coronated, and becomes the tenth Baron Northcrest. :Summersday wine by Wyder of the Vine is produced. ;NRy812 :Harland Northcrest confesses to having had a child with Elspeth Hucks shortly before he dies. :The Collector is born. ;NRy814 :Elias Northcrest creates The Awakened. ;c. NRy822 :Erin is born. :NRy827 :The Stonemarket Clocktower breaks down for the second time, while still under restoration. ;NRy830 :Elias Northcrest begins preparation for the age of industry in The City. He has erected new buildings on top of the old, and laid the foundations of a progressive future. Elias begins to think the old gods get in the way of progress, bring the city to stagnation. :For the third time in many years work to restore the Clock Tower stops due to tragedy, when a child worker fell to his death in the plaza. Following the event workers refused to climb the scaffolds again following the accident believing the place may be haunted or cursed (it was rumored than the chief engineer was crushed in his own gears when it was first constructed).CLOCK TOWER STOPS AGAIN! :c. An eight year old Erin comes to the City. ;NRy831 Elias Northcrest, Cornelius and Bloumount discover a an ancient tome in one of the areas below ground from an earlier age. It was believe to be hundreds of years old. It was filled with primitive symbols and explained a ritual or procedure on how to harness the Primal energy inside of an empty vessel. ;NRy834 :Baron Northcrest begins work on the City's power solution pipes are installed in much of the city. :Baron Elias Northcrest outlaws the worship of the old gods for the third time since The City was ruled by a Northcrest. The chapels around the city are demolished. :Baron Northcrest tours the demolished chapels in Dayport, in preparation to be replaced by pipe-houses. :The Keep is built. ;NRy838 :The father of the collector passes his possessions onto his son. ;NRy839 :Elias Northcrest is reunited with Aldous his brother, and convinced him to join The Awakened. :Medical Act of NRy839 enforces confidentiality act and secrecy of experimental treatments. ;NRy840 :Vivian and Elias Northcrest attend a banquet at Lord Shipton manor. Vivian acknowledges religious sympathy when answering Mayhew about the Primal energy angering Elias. ;NRy841 :Elias Northcrest learns he is sterile and will be the last of his line. The Primal energy had prematurely aged him, and caused his sterility. :Garrett and Erin attempt to rob Northcrest Manor in Auldale. :Erin is admitted into the Moira Asylum. :White Sails loses some cargo near the Shoals of the coast of the Throvian Mainland. ;NRy842 :Garrett returns to the city with no memory of the previous year. Notes *The original series if it occurred in this universe appears to occurred under the Bresling dynasty. *Karras appears in paintings in the new Thief. But no specific dates are given for when he existed. Conjecture based on the change of location of the Crippled Burrick's location, and/or construction of Moira Asylum, and the dates given, would suggest an earlier period for when Karras was alive. This is assuming that there isn't an alternate Karras currently alive in the 'present' who has a different backstory much like Garrett and Basso (and possibly an alternate Edwina Moira). **In the original series Thief: The Dark Project took place in a year marked only as '34' (which could allow for it to exist in 434 of the BRy dating system assuming both systems are connected). **Thief II begins a year after the first, and covers events over about two years. **Thief: Deadly Shadows timing is unknown. *The old religions being banned had to have first occurred at least ten generations before present times, and it appears it wasn't consecutively. The current Lord Northcrest is already an old man (and has ruled for decades), but his outlaw decree and destruction of the churches only occurred in the last decade. His ancestor Ulysses was the first Northcrest to ban the old gods. *The Shalebridge fire (possible reference to the Shalebridge Cradle fire) occurred 2-3 generations before based on the references (the guards suggest that their older relatives or some older person they knew had experienced events of the fires. It's unlikely that the Shalebridge fire is related to the fires of 662. However based on certain other details it could just be another fire that's occurred in Shalebridge. **Technically The City has seen many fires between the fires mentioned in the old and new series. The fires of the Catastrophe that burned out portions of the Old Quarter, the Shalebridge Cradle fire, the fires that burned through much of the city (662). So having another fire in Shalebridge in the middle of the 700 or early 800s wouldn't be out of the ordinary. *The Blackbrook war is something recorded in history books, one of the guards 'read about' it in a history book). *There is mention of other plagues in The City's historic past, not to be confused with the gloom. This may be a nod to a number of different plagues including the plague of undead during the Catastrophe and the Great Plague. *Carlysle's Mill, the date for its construction does not exist in the game, as the date on the plaque had worn away. It's unclear if it was built before or after events of Karras. **Assuming "old Garrett" didn't cause the Carlysle bankruptcy and loss of assets, it could have been built after the events Thief II. **If "old Garret" was the cause, it could have been built before Castle Carlysle was robbed by the thief in Thief II. **Architecturally it appears to be a combination of stone (like old thief games) rather than more modern brick/concrete/plaster look but with wooden bits closer to late 19th century architecture of the new Thief game (which may show its been at least refurbished at some point). Strangely despite being abandoned its still functioning with smoke coming out of the chimney. *Silent Joff maybe the same Joff mentioned in The Dark Project (he is now long dead). *Oxheart Perry may be a descendent of Heartless Perry. *The Clocktower was likely reconstructed a few centuries after Thief: Deadly Shadows, as it exists on the current surface of the city, at least one layer above the old City (see vanished quarters). This may be the same situation for the Carlysle's Mill unless it was built on a hill to begin with. Other Dating Method options *...alternatively it could be possible that the timeline is using something similar to a BC/AD & BCE/CE type designation where the Bresling dynasty could countdown from BRy459 to BRy1, and Northcrest dynesty beginning at year NRy1 and counting up to NRy842. This would make it at least 1300 years worth of history. This option is less likely as Bresling dynasty wouldn't have been ruling into the past indefinitely. Although in this case y632 could be from a time before Bresling rule, rather than after (representing furthest point in time in the history). *Or perhaps both count up in a single direction from 1 to 459+, and 1 to 842+ the NR calendar simply beginning at year one when the Northcrest came to power (replacing whatever the last year had been reached under the Bresling calendar). The 'y632' appears to break this option, as it would possibly make a third dating system, in which Barons did not rule. between 1 to 632+ years... This would make it over 1935 years of history total (which seems unlikely). *Old Garrett must have been captured after Ulysses became the new Baron and turned the asylum into a prison. This would suggest that Ulysses must have become the new Baron shortly after 459. References Category:Thief